Surely there is more to life than this! Earthquakes, tsunamis, the volatile stock market, job losses, radioactive scares, congressional hearings on Islam, hate speech approved, potential airstrikes in Lybia, murders, overpaid athletes being coddles, underpaid workers losing rights to bargain as a group, and kids ingesting cocaine at a local elementary school. Surely something better is hoped for. Surely something better was intended! I know that reading this list is a negative way to start the day, especially considering we will have a beautiful day here in DC. Yet, this list was pulled from the news headlines this morning. It is the very thing we would encounter when we read the newspapers or go online for news. As a people of faith, how do we respond to this. Do we respond to this?
We continue our Lenten journey this week by exploring our desire to encounter something more. To encounter something more in our personal lives, in our corporate lives as a faith community, and as a part of creation. A Jewish leader named Nicodemus went looking for something more one night. He left the safe confines of his home to travel the dark streets in search of the man with whom the Jewish leaders were not happy with. Nicodemus went looking for Jesus. His desire to encounter something more left him pondering a statement about being born again.
Our Lenten journey is about a path through the wilderness to prepare us for something else. To prepare us to be baptized or more fully live out the covenant made in our baptism. This journey often leaves us pondering statements and situations. Seeking justice and mercy even as injustice and acts of hate stare us in the face. As we continue this journey (and following up on last week) we continue to learn who we are. In that learning process, we begin to understand what drives us and what motivates us. We listen and actually hear God’s voice speaking to us to come and follow. To encounter more. Even when our own personal lives do not mirror the news headlines, we recognize that life is even more than about us. For the world to encounter something more…something different, then we must encounter something more. In order to do that, we’ve got to go looking…
Surely there is more to life than this! Let’s find out together.
I am excited about what God is doing, and I look forward to what will
happen this Sunday at 5 PM.
I hope to see you there.
Joy and Peace,
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